The road to salvaltion

It was decided after some consideration that I would take atleast 25 fasts this month. It was part ego and partly my sudden need to get as close as possible to the Almighty. I figured also that if I didn eat much I would lose the extra fat and probably join a modelling contest and display the trophy in my new house. House warming next week. My room could look good with the Miss best figure cup next to the multicoloured pots and vases that i splurged on one fine day in Home Stop.Its already been 15 days and iv taken a measly 7. Atleast if I had carried them off with some style and dignity, it would have been worth while, but here I am at 4 o clock, my eyes rolling in my head counting every damn minute of the system clock.I keep thinking I should just get up and go sleep in the dorm which is always full thanks to the trainees that my company recruits in alarming numbers and the tagged employees who are trying to make proper use of being in the free pool. So I slowly pick myself up and Im about to lock my system and disappear when I hear a call that sounds dangerously like my name. "Yes?".. very very hesitant...(Um U see im fasting and im tired and I was just about to leave for the dorm... the resting place??? Havent heard theres one in our company.. Oh you workaholics.. these are the finer aspects of our company!!). But instead - "Oh yes I know that file. Il get it. And Il do this also and that and that and this and that and that that that that...(tempo increases....sounding like the old arrow shirts ad that I used to love in fifth std--- Hey Hey Hey Hey look at that!)
The good thing is that work keeps me occupied and hence 5:50 comes sooner than expected considering that I was expecting it a minute before I grow old and wasted!I keep thinking I shouldnt be complaining and every muslim is in the world... well almost ... ok half.... are suffering hunger pangs along with me and the less I whine, even if its in my head, the closer I get to my prayers getting answered.
The first day I remember I couldn take my eyes off even a hint of food. They ordered pizza in office and the smell engulfed my senses., I found myself wondering y it is im fasting in the first place.To find my space in heaven??? But doesnt look like I will die soon although you never can say about THAT.I drove the pizza guy out of my cubicle lest i commit the ultimate sin. I gave composed looks and discussed the performance of our application while the others hogged away. I even amused myself thinking whats the least that could happen if I did a little bit of a karate sequence and knocked everyone down and deposited the slices in my stomach and gave a nice long burp. So i might be slapped with harrassment of employees for a slice of pizza case or i might lose more than a point on the team player column in my appraisal list. So?
The subsequent days turned out to be a little better. It should have been as I would decide to just take breaks in between and fast "day after tomorrow"!!Strange things started happening. I would end up in the pantry instead of going to the bathroom and give hard stares at the ASSAM tea bag boxes. Everywhere I looked I saw food. On the Google logo I saw a cup cake inside the 'O'. Did I imagine that?I noticed crumbs of buscuits on the floor carpet in my office and picked it and put it in the dustbin.This was not done because I had a high sense of hygene. I just didnt want to get distracted. By 4 Id start planning what all Im going to eat after 6 o clock. Mango , Pine apple and musambi juice. Veg puff. Samosas. Mousse cake. Doughnuts. Fruit & Nut. Halidirams Katta Meeta. French fries.Appam and Stew.Rice, sambar, curd, caramel custard...............My mouth is flooding!What happens after the sun goes down though. The sad truth is that I have a veg puff and Im full. The gas in my stomach mixes with the puff and stops further appetite for a while. SO i dont get gorge away as in my dreams.
Food. It is only in the month of Ramadan that I remember how precious it is. Every morsel is an investment into my feeling of well being and tomorrows health. There is simply no point not eating today after 6 cos if you dont u are gonna suffer tomorrow.You have to make sure you eat what you think is healthy. I bet people decided what food is healthy and what is not based on how their stomach and body felt after a fast. I know for sure that Lays isnt healthy cos I can hear my body whine and go a little sick. An apple feels like a disinfecting river through my system.The best part about the period is that you learn to avoid junk food as you have no choice. Junk food is relegated to your daydreams.Thats lesson no 1
Lesson 2 is about not wasting food. Yesterday I was having an omlette in cake corner to break my fast and there was a bit of it left when the lady over there came to take away the plates.I practically snatched it back to finish the last bit. In normal circumstance no matter how tasty, its my style to leave the last bit uneaten. I get rid of this wasteful style every fasting day.
Lesson 3 is about being hungry enough to spare a thought for other people who go through this throughout the year. The children on the streets begging you to buy their cottonbud packets or roses. Some of them are even righteous enough to not take the money unless you take the packet in return.Its easy to feel sorry for them. But how sorry can you feel unless youve felt an inkling of what they go through?
Lesson 4 is about getting the feeling that youre sacrificing the pleasure of food and other equally pleasurable but forbidden things for attaining a sense of hope. That your prayers will be answered.They say God cant be deaf to a hungry soul.
Lesson 5 is about learning to manage your headaches and get on with work and being cheerful.
Lesson 6 is about making your fast fruitful by accompanying it with good thoughts and restraining yourself from bitching about everyone around you. Atleast for a while. Break your fast and do it, if you still have the interest.I dont.
Hmmm.... Im sounding like a mullah im sure.. A mullah who blogs!
Its funny how most people around you wont give it a second thought while your fast is mostly the uppermost thought in your head throughout the day.What I like best about the whole month is that eid becomes all the more grander and meaningful.Ofcourse for a lot of muslims none of this a big deal sinc they would have been fasting every day of the holy month ever since their mom stuck a feeding bottle in their mouth. But for a person like me, who used to fast 1 one day in a month and claim that it was three, who used to go to school and hide and eat my doughnuts never being able to understand the significance or the fuss behind all this, its quite a big deal.